4-13-04 Latest News

New Guests Added To NZ Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo
leo @ 5:18 am EST

Ringer Spy Linuxelf writes: Hi just a reminder for all NZ fans; this week friday is the start of the Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo; also GREAT NEWS!! two new LOTR guests has been added!! see below for details!

as from the website www.pulpexpo.com;

Where:
Aotea Centre and Town Hall Auckland

When:
Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo
April 16-18th

Guests:
Lord Of the Rings - John Rhys-Davies
John will be attending all three days of the Expo.

Witch King himself & Lurtz - Lawrence Makoare
Appearing Sunday 18th April only

The Steward of Gondor Himself, John Noble
Appearing Saturday 17th April only

Gil-Galad, Mark Ferguson
all 3 days

Gamling, Bruce Hopkins
all 3 days

Opening Times / Days:
Friday 16th 9am-6pm,
Saturday 17th 9am-6pm
Sunday 18th 9am-5pm April 2004

Entry Prices:
Entry cost - Adult one day $14

Child (12 and Under) - one day pass $10

Family pass (2 Adults & 2 Children) - one day only $40

Three Day Pass - $40

There will be two enterances to the expo, with twice as many tils operating to keep ques short.

I would also recommend bringing abit of money because the guests hopefully will be signing autographs, from previous experience you need to buy the photos to be signed on the Day. This helps paying the airfare & costs back to the guests.

I'm packing my bags and heading off that way thursday morning!! woohoo!!!

WETA's Matt Aitken Talks EE:DVD & Kong
Xoanon @ 9:56 pm EST

JR writes: I went to my brother’s graduation on April 6th in the Auckland Town Hall and the guest speaker was Matt Aitken (Digital Models Supervisor at WETA Digital).

He talked about all the problems they had making some of the digital creatures including the Balrog, the Eagles and Golum. His main point was that WETA had to use a combination of their creative talent and also technical talent to over come these problems.

The most interesting comment he made was that they had just finished the final shots for the Return of the King Special Edition DVD the day before yesterday (5th April) and that he and his team where now working on King Kong.

He’s wee, but he’s harder than Viggo
Xoanon @ 8:38 pm EST

Pip Of Tuckborough writes: I thought you might like this article that has a snippit of Billy in it. It is at sundayherald.com and is about halfway down the page. Here is what it has to say about him:

He’s wee, but he’s harder than Viggo

They say the movie business is all glamour, but Billy Boyd knows better. Interviewed for today’s Sunday Herald magazine about his friend Viggo Mortensen, the Scottish actor – who plays Pippin in the Lord Of The Rings movies – was asked about the rumour that Mortensen had had a tooth knocked out during a fight scene and demanded that he be allowed to glue it back in and carry on filming. “People love these stories,” sighed Boyd, confirming that it was true. “But nobody talks about the day that I got two fillings without any anaesthetic, and the pain was so much that my hobbit feet fell off.”

Apparently, Boyd had an emergency appointment with the dentist, but because he had lines to deliver in the afternoon, asked that his mouth not be numbed. So agonising was the drilling and filling, however, that he began to sweat so profusely that the glue holding his prosthetic feet on was washed away and they slipped to the floor.

The irony is that when Boyd returned to the set he had to spend so long in make-up having the appendages reattached that he might as well have been waiting for the anaesthetic to wear off. “I thought that was a bigger moment than Viggo getting a tooth knocked out,” said Boyd, trying to recover some dignity from the situation. “That was a spur of the moment thing. I had to commit to my pain.” Which – needless to say – we share.

TV Guide Online Talks to Boyd
Xoanon @ 9:17 pm EST

vintageyear writes: On Wednesday there was a link to the TV Guide Online interview with Billy Boyd.

Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd exchanged his hobbit feet for sea legs when he climbed aboard Peter Weir's high-seas epic, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which arrives on DVD April 20. While the Scottish actor wasn't initially enamored of the ocean, by the time filming ended, he discovered that a sailor's life might just be for him.

TV Guide Online: Did you realize that between Master and Commander and The Lord of the Rings, you were up for 21 Oscars this year?

Billy Boyd: Yeah, I like to say that I won 13 Oscars that night — I'm sure that breaks some record. (Laughs) It was a very special night, although the more awards that Return of the King won, the more I got kind of jumpy about it. I didn't want everyone else to win and then find out that Peter Jackson had been passed over. Any other year but this one and Master and Commander would have done amazingly well. I actually saw Peter Weir right after the ceremony and he said, "It was a massacre in there!"

TVGO: Why did you decide to do another historical epic so soon after Rings?

Boyd: I couldn't pass up the chance to work with Weir. I'm a huge fan of Gallipoli, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show, and when I heard he wanted me to be in one of his movies, I decided that it was something I didn't mind giving up a year for. He's a very intelligent man and a lovely director.

TVGO: What kind of training did you have to go through for the part?

Boyd: We trained every day for a couple of weeks. We'd do a half day of sailing school and then maybe a quarter day of fencing or tying knots. Before I did this film, I had no interest in sailing. I didn't even know how a sailing ship could go anywhere the wind wasn't going. If the wind is blowing north to south, how can you go west? It made no sense to me. The great thing about being an actor is that you get to learn this stuff from the best people in the world. It was like going to the best university in the world for sailing.

TVGO: On the DVD, some of the actors reveal that there was a class system instituted on the set. How did that work exactly?

Boyd: Every person wore a different shirt. Blue signified officers and red stood for marines. And light blue meant midshipmen that weren't quite officers yet. I wore white because I was a sailor, although since my character was a coxswain, he was held in high regard. So I was arguing my case that I should have a different color shirt, or at least an off-white one. (Laughs) I think it really did help though. It seems strange to us now, but class was very important on those ships. They were almost like a mini-England. The officers were kind of the royal family and it just worked down from there.

TVGO: What was your favorite seafaring task?

Boyd: I really enjoyed being on the helm. Sometimes, I would stay on the helm all day. If we had finished filming a scene and wanted to go a couple of miles down the coast, the captain would come up and give me orders. By the end, I could take the ship in and out of port!

TVGO: So have you grown addicted to epics or are you desperately hoping to do a smaller film next?

Boyd: It depends on the script and the character, unless someone like Peter Weir or Peter Jackson comes along. Right now I'm just reading scripts and there are a couple I've put my name to and I'll hopefully be doing them this year. And because of Pippin's song in Return of the King, I've been offered lots of singing stuff. I love to sing; it used to be my career before I started acting. There are a lot of good musicals out there that I'd love to do.

TVGO: Is it true that you'll be the voice of Chucky's son in the upcoming Seed of Chucky?

Boyd: That is true. I just finished recording my dialogue for that. It was a lot of fun. The director, Don Mancini, was a great guy and showed me some drawings of what my character is going to look like. I think people will be in for a few shocks...

TVGO: Finally, an obligatory Lord of the Rings qu estion. Can you spill any details about what's going to be on the extended-edition DVD that's due out in November?

Boyd: Dominic [Monaghan, who played Merry] and I just finished recording our commentary for the extended edition and there's lots of extra stuff. A lot of my footage actually made it into the theatrical version, but there were a couple of scenes I'm glad are included in this cut. There's a scene with Pippin and Faramir that I feel helps explain their relationship. Fans will be very happy with the DVD. Some of the extra scenes they put on there are just fantastic.

Hall Of Fire Chats This Weekend
Frode @ 8:05 pm EST

Will 'The Hobbit' make for a good movie? What will a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkiens 1937 publication be like? Will it be a childrens movie? Do you think the story will translate as well to the movie medium as 'The Lord of the Rings' did? Join us in #thehalloffire this easter weekend to discuss the cinematic possibilities of 'The Hobbit'.

Upcoming topics:

weekend 170404-180404: The Hobbit - Chapter 6
weekend 240404-250404: Tolkien and environmentalism
weekend 010504-020504: The Hobbit - Chapter 7

Times:
Saturday Chat:
5:30pm ET (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 9:30am Sunday (09:30) AET]

Sunday Chat:
7:00 pm (19:00) CET
[also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 5:00am (05:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA's East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AET = Australian East Coast

Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at
halloffire@theonering.net

Giant Green Dragon Comes to Toronto
Tookish @ 3:36 pm EST

Greetings!

A little article I found:

Giant green dragon comes to T.O.

Weta Workshop, the New Zealand-based special effects company that gained global fame for its work on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, has chosen the Toronto-based Nelvana animation house to collaborate on the new animated series Jane and the Dragon.

The 26 half -hour episodes are based on the book series by Martin Baynton about a 13-year-old girl in medieval times who has a giant green dragon in her backyard. The series is targeted at the six to 11 year-old audience.

"This partnership promises to be a great experience for Nelvana's CGI studio," says Scott Dyer, executive vice-president of production and development at the Corus Entertainment-owned Nelvana. "We're looking forward to working with the talented Weta team."

Weta Workshop founder Richard Taylor says their first venture into children's television animation will blend classic animation design and modern computerized motion-capture technology.

"We have enjoyed a wonderful opportunity to create a fantastical world around the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien," Taylor says. "It is therefore a great treat to be able to create our own world for Jane and her Dragon."


Thanks,

Hobbitangel

TV Guide Online Interview with Billy Boyd
weetanya @ 5:18 pm EST

Vintage Year writes: Yesterday, there was a link to the TV Guide Online interview with Billy Boyd, now it seems we need registration to view it. If you want a transcript of the interview without registering, here it is:


***********************************

Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd exchanged his hobbit feet for sea legs when he climbed aboard Peter Weir's high-seas epic, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which arrives on DVD April 20. While the Scottish actor wasn't initially enamored of the ocean, by the time filming ended, he discovered that a sailor's life might just be for him.

TV Guide Online: Did you realize that between Master and Commander and The Lord of the Rings, you were up for 21 Oscars this year?

Billy Boyd: Yeah, I like to say that I won 13 Oscars that night — I'm sure that breaks some record. (Laughs) It was a very special night, although the more awards that Return of the King won, the more I got kind of jumpy about it. I didn't want everyone else to win and then find out that Peter Jackson had been passed over. Any other year but this one and Master and Commander would have done amazingly well. I actually saw Peter Weir right after the ceremony and ! he said, "It was a massacre in there!"

TVGO: Why did you decide to do another historical epic so soon after Rings?

Boyd: I couldn't pass up the chance to work with Weir. I'm a huge fan of Gallipoli, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show, and when I heard he wanted me to be in one of his movies, I decided that it was something I didn't mind giving up a year for. He's a very intelligent man and a lovely director.

TVGO: What kind of training did you have to go through for the part?

Boyd: We trained every day for a couple of weeks. We'd do a half day of sailing school and then maybe a quarter day of fencing or tying knots. Before I did this film, I had no interest in sailing. I didn't even know how a sailing ship could go anywhere the wind wasn't going. If the wind is blowing north to south, how can you go west? It made no sense to me. The great thing about being an actor is that you get to learn this stuff from the best people in the world.! It was like going to the best university in the world for sai! ling.

TVGO: On the DVD, some of the actors reveal that there was a class system instituted on the set. How did that work exactly?

Boyd: Every person wore a different shirt. Blue signified officers and red stood for marines. And light blue meant midshipmen that weren't quite officers yet. I wore white because I was a sailor, although since my character was a coxswain, he was held in high regard. So I was arguing my case that I should have a different color shirt, or at least an off-white one. (Laughs) I think it really did help though. It seems strange to us now, but class was very important on those ships. They were almost like a mini-England. The officers were kind of the royal family and it just worked down from there.

TVGO: What was your favorite seafaring task?

Boyd: I really enjoyed being on the helm. Sometimes, I would stay on the helm all day. If we had finished filming a scene and wanted to go a couple of miles down the coast, the captain would co! me up and give me orders. By the end, I could take the ship in and out of port!

TVGO: So have you grown addicted to epics or are you desperately hoping to do a smaller film next?

Boyd: It depends on the script and the character, unless someone like Peter Weir or Peter Jackson comes along. Right now I'm just reading scripts and there are a couple I've put my name to and I'll hopefully be doing them this year. And because of Pippin's song in Return of the King, I've been offered lots of singing stuff. I love to sing; it used to be my career before I started acting. There are a lot of good musicals out there that I'd love to do.

TVGO: Is it true that you'll be the voice of Chucky's son in the upcoming Seed of Chucky?

Boyd: That is true. I just finished recording my dialogue for that. It was a lot of fun. The director, Don Mancini, was a great guy and showed me some drawings of what my character is going to look like. I think people will be in for a ! few shocks...

TVGO: Finally, an obligatory Lord of the ! Rings qu estion. Can you spill any details about what's going to be on the extended-edition DVD that's due out in November?

Boyd: Dominic [Monaghan, who played Merry] and I just finished recording our commentary for the extended edition and there's lots of extra stuff. A lot of my footage actually made it into the theatrical version, but there were a couple of scenes I'm glad are included in this cut. There's a scene with Pippin and Faramir that I feel helps explain their relationship. Fans will be very happy with the DVD. Some of the extra scenes they put on there are just fantastic.

Trilogy Showing at Chapter Arts Centre
Xoanon @ 11:14 pm EST

Barry writes: I saw the posting about the Dukes cinema in Lancaster. Cardiff can beat that! Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff's premier alternative arts venue, is showing the trilogy at 11am, 3pm and 7pm on Saturday 10th April for an incredible £6.

The email notification from Chapter says describes it as "an unmissable special offer in the cinema where you can see all three Lord of the Rings films for just £6 in a day long saga to test your stamina ... That's a massive 558 minutes of stunning, Oscar-winning cinema for £6. That has to be great value". I agree!

Contact details are: box office 029 2030 4400; on line tickets and info http://www.chapter.org. Chapter is in Canton, a trendy part of Cardiff, and very easy to get to. It's actually a converted school with a theatre, art galleries, cafe, bar and studios, and the two cinema screens are in knocked through double classrooms. They only have a capacity of 190 in the cinema showing the trology, and so far have only sold tickets for about half of those.

Tolkien Calligraphy Project
Xoanon @ 8:53 pm EST

Sarah B sends along this sample of her amazing work, a Tolkien Calligraphy Project.

Greetings Tolkien fans!

I would like to inform you of a project I am working on. I am currently creating a copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy using illuminated Celtic calligraphy. The material I am using is 11X17 neutral parchment and will be approximately 2500 pages. I wrote to the Tolkien Estate and was granted exclusive permission to do this project. It must be noted that this work is in no way intended for publication or reproduction; it is merely an artistic expression of my fondness for these beautiful books.

I first began by practicing the calligraphy for over two months. The practice was essential, because the calligraphy had to become as natural as my own handwriting in order to complete a project of this size. I encountered many challenges as I began concerning measurements, style and format of each page. After many trials, I finally decided to write the majority of the text in black ink and the words appearing in italics in blue ink. This includes poems, Elvish and songs appearing in the books. The inscription on the ring will be the only text appearing in red ink. At this time, I am in the process of copying all of the text and then going back to add the illumination and illustration. It is my goal to have all three books completed in 2 ½ years. I work approximately 2 hours each day and complete a minimum of five pages per week.

This project continues to bring me great joy, as well as a little frustration here and there, and I have been honored by the interest shown by the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Society and TheOneRing.net. I will be happy to provide updates concerning my progress as long as people are interested. The pages I have provided are glimpses of what will appear in the finished project. I have included a completed page from the prologue as well as a page of Elvish and poetry. On a full page, there are large margins to allow for binding and illustration. It is my hope that this endeavor inspires others to pursue the dying art of illuminated manuscripts.

Sincerely, Sarah B.

London LOTR Symphony Tickets On Sale Today!
leo @ 5:25 am EST

People in and around London who want to get the chance to see Howard Shore in concert are in luck! Tickets for a new concert on September 22nd (a coincidence?) in the Royal Albert Hall go on sale today!

One of the most eagerly-awaited, stupendously-acclaimed and, now, richly-awarded cinematic events of all time (both in middle-earth and this earth), The Lord of the Rings lives on in the powerful score composed by Howard Shore. Among the extraordinary 33 Oscars, Baftas and Golden Globes, Shore has five to his name - Academy Awards for Best Score for Fellowship of the Ring and both Academy Awards and Golden Globes for not only Best Score but also Best Song for The Return of the King.

Having composed ten hours of music for the trilogy (in both its theatrical release and extended DVD versions), Howard Shore now returns to London where he recorded the whole score with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, to conduct the orchestra and London Voices, with soloists, in his Symphony based on the film scores, in the recently-refurbished Victorian majesty of the Royal Albert Hall.

ShoreR17;s Symphony was premièred in Wellington, New Zealand as part of the celebrations for the opening of The Return of the King in December 2003. Subsequently performed in America, Canada and Australia, its forthcoming Royal Festival Hall performance on Sunday 23 May sold out immediately. The Royal Albert Hall concert will be its only UK performance next season.

Follow, once again, the intrepid fellowship of nine as they collectively, and individually, battle against the evil of Sauron and try to protect the ring-bearer, the hobbit Frodo, as he carries the burden of “the one ring to rule them all” to Mordor’s Mount Doom. Shore’s score was an integral part of Peter Jackson’s overall design, and the beauty of Rivendell and the elves is as evocatively caught in sound as it is in images; the battle scenes are as memorable for their pounding ferocity as the sight of thousands of orcs, oliphants or the Nazgul.

The performance will be accompanied by projected images from artists Alan Lee and John Howe, whose drawings inspired Peter Jackson and his team. Together with Shore’s soaring music, they bring a touch of Middle Earth to the Royal Albert Hall, from the mystery of the mines of Moria to the grandeur of Minis Tirith; from the beauty of Rivendell to the horror of Helm’s Deep; and the two towers themselves, Saruman’s Isengard and Sauron’s Barad-dûr in Mordor. Remind yourselves of the host of wonderful characters evoked by the stunning score - Gollum, Treebeard, Merry & Pippin, Arwen, Eowyn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Boromir and Faramir.

The promoters regret that there are no concessions for hobbits, elves, orcs, goblins, dwarves, ring wraiths or, indeed, any wannabe Lord of the Ring!

LOTR Symphony Announced in Phoenix
Xoanon @ 4:09 pm EST

Carol writes: The Phoenix Symphony has just announced it will perform the Western United States premiere of "The LOTR Symphony" on May 26. Conducting will be Alexander Mikelthwate, who worked closely with composer Howard Shore in helping to prepare the American premiere of the symphony in March. Tickets go on sale to the public beginning April 4 through the Symphony's website and through the Phoneix Symphony Box Office at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, April 5. Tickets are priced at $16, $25, $34, $43, and $55. [More]